Guest Viewpoint: Students need help coping with the 9/11 anniversary

By Stephen E. Brock and Shane Jimerson

8/13/02 – Healing from trauma does not simply occur with the passing of time or because children are inherently resilient. There is nothing simple about childhood trauma. Ignoring trauma does not mean the memories and distress will go away.

Coping with the loss, death, and grief associated with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is a process, not an event. Thus, it is critically important for educators working with students to continually consider how to help youths deal with lingering reactions to these national tragedies.

The one-year anniversary of these attacks will present unique challenges to this coping process. The intensity of traumatic memories and crisis reactions typically fades over time. However, memories of a traumatic event never completely go away, and a variety of life events can re-trigger intense reactions to the trauma.

This fear might be especially acute on the anniversary of last year's attacks given that national leaders have suggested future acts of aggression to be a real possibility.

As the anniversary of last September's attacks approaches, educators should expect the children they care for, as well as themselves, might display many of the same crisis reactions demonstrated immediately after the attacks.

This is particularly true for children and youths who have witnessed the events of Sept. 11 or who had close relatives who were victims of the attacks.

Possible reactions include emotional numbness, fear, guilt, anger, resentment, depression, loneliness, isolation, physical symptoms of distress, and an inability to maintain normal activities. Other rare reactions include suicidal and homicidal thinking and psychosis.

The anniversary also could trigger delayed onset post-traumatic stress disorder. Children with this condition might refuse to go to school, be excessively clingy, have nightmares, be irritable, have difficulty concentrating, be easily startled and jumpy, become withdrawn, or have persistent fears related to the disaster.

School leaders and educators need to be ready to help the school community cope with the renewed emphasis on the tragedy as Sept. 11, 2002, approaches. Here are some suggestions to help your schools deal with the anniversary:

• Ensure that all caregivers, especially parents, are prepared for a reawakening of intense emotions and reactions.

• School administrators need to ensure that school staff members work together in developing plans for responding to the anniversary. Now is also an excellent time to review district and school safety plans.

School leaders might consider including information on any memorial plans in back-to-school communications that go to parents before the beginning of the school year.

• The anniversary of last September's attacks is likely to receive significant media coverage, including images of damage and destruction, which could intensify the anniversary effect. Thus, it will be important to try to limit students' exposure to media reports.

• Plan how your school will deal with media inquiries regarding your school's response to the anniversary. The school that presents itself as professional and prepared will be a powerful source of reassurance and resiliency.

• The anniversary effect will influence caregivers as well as students. All caregivers need to be acutely aware of the impact of their own anniversary reactions, especially on younger children.

Thus, to the extent possible, it is important to maintain a calm and controlled demeanor. Through your actions, show students that school is functioning normally.

• Take time to listen and talk to children about what they are experiencing and feeling. Reassure students that adults are doing everything possible to keep children safe.

• Be prepared for, and tolerant of, a wide range of behavior. Explain to children that it is understandable to be upset or disturbed.

• Be realistic about curriculum demands. The usual adjustment issues associated with returning to school could be exacerbated during this period. It might not be a good time for intensive instruction or tests.

On the other hand, the anniversary can present an opportunity to begin the school year with a focus on the importance of positive issues such as tolerance, anger management, and global awareness.

• Help students identify available trusted friends and adults from whom they can seek support when they feel overwhelmed or panicked.

• Ensure that caregivers are available to listen to students' stories. Hold classroom discussions if appropriate, but do not force discussion or repeatedly bring up the catastrophic events. Doing so might re-traumatize students.

• School support staff and administrators should make special efforts to be highly visible and provide leadership and support during the days before and after the anniversary.

This might be a meaningful time to unveil or dedicate a permanent memorial to crisis victims.

Appropriate memorial activities could include listing the attributes of lost friends or loved ones; developing memory books; distributing memory ribbons; planting flowers or a tree; lighting candles; creating a mural or collage; and writing a poem, story, or song about the person who died.

Memorial activities require careful planning and sensitivity to future considerations. For instance, planting a tree is a wonderful idea, but care must be taken in selecting a location so the tree has a good chance of surviving and won't need to be cut down in a few years.

When recommendations arise to memorialize Sept. 11, the following considerations should be taken into account:

• First, determine if a memorial is needed. While there might be a need for special memorial activities at schools where students lost parents or other relatives in the attacks, schools more removed from the crises might not have such a need.

Providing a memorial activity for students who do not need it could serve to increase their threat perceptions. Conversely, not providing such activities for students who do need them denies them an important venue for dealing with their anniversary reactions.

• Even schools not closely affected by the events might want to consider memorial activities that focus on the ultimately empowering effects of the experience, such as a stronger sense of community, increased civic activism, the desire to help others, and a greater appreciation for the rights and responsibilities of American freedom.

• Begin planning now, but keep in mind that this is only the first of many anniversaries. Make sure all students are involved. But it is important to acknowledge that some youths might resist or refuse to participate. No one should be required to engage in any memorial activity.

• Activities and curricula that target tolerance and bullying could be helpful in the development of "living memorials" designed to address some of the issues that underlie acts of terrorism. Study of religious and political issues could help students to understand the bigger picture and broader issues.

• Make sure that all memorial activities are sensitive to the developmental level of students. For example, while writing activities might be ideal for the development of personalized memorials for older students, drawing might be a better activity for younger children.

• It is essential to preview memorial activities with staff, students, and parents. Parents and staff should know what to expect, and students should know how to behave.

• At the conclusion of any school-sponsored memorial activity, ensure that all students return to a classroom setting and are given a chance to discuss the experience with their teacher or another adult.

• In planning for a memorial, it is also important to address how to meet the immediate needs of youths who have strong behavioral or emotional reactions to the activity.

While the Sept. 11 attacks will never be forgotten, the intensity of the feelings and reactions associated with these crises will fade over time. But the anniversary effect will trigger a re-awakening of these feelings in many students.

As long as professional educators and other caregivers prepare themselves, their schools, their students, and their communities for this anniversary effect, the anxiety associated with a re-awakening of crisis reactions can be minimized.

Stephen E. Brock is an assistant professor in the College of Education at California State University, Sacramento, and Shane Jimerson (pictured) is an assistant professor at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This piece is excerpted from an article prepared for the National Association of School Psychologists. Brock and Jimerson are co authors of Best Practices in School Crisis Prevention and Intervention, available from www.nasponline.org.